Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Nine miners were killed and one wounded in an explosion in an underground coal mine in Shaanxi. The fatal accident occurred yesterday evening towards 7 pm, in Quanzigou mine, Hancheng (Longmen). Of the 27 miners who working in the tunnel, only 17 were rescued.
Two days ago, on March 31 12 miners were killed and 32 were trapped underground in a coal mine in Henan by another gas explosion. The accident occurred in the evening around 7:20 pm in Yichuan County (Luoyang). The mine belongs to private company, Guoming, and was operating illegally, digging a tunnel where about 90 miners were at work. Only 51 of them reached safety. It is difficult to determine the exact number of people trapped underground because the blast destroyed the list of miners at work. The provincial government ordered the closure of the mine last May, after another incident.
Meanwhile, three days have passed since yet another mining disaster in a state-owned coal mine in Xiangning, Wangjialing (Shanxi), where 153 miners were buried in a tunnel flooded and where now hopes of bringing them to safety are almost nil.
For years, China has held the record of the world's highest number of fatal accidents in mines, a consequence of the nation’s hunger for energy that results in mines being kept open. Facilities managers, both governmental and public, push for intensive exploitation, reducing security measures to increase profits.
Unofficial sources say the victims from mining accidents in China are at least 20 thousand a year.
Over the past three years the government has approved regulations on mine safety, but their application is very vague. Thanks to corruption, local government and mine owners can avoid closure, often hiding accidents and fatalities.
